NBA Comparison: Semaj Christon/Dante Exum

Strengths: Lead guard with a very intriguing combination of size, speed and athleticism … Has a quick first step to get by opponents … 6’8 wingspan along with 6’5.5 height allows him to overmatch opposing point guards physically … Speed and quickness makes him highly effective in the open floor … Explosive athlete … Attacks the rim well off the bounce with his great first step and separation speed … Has good body control … Good finisher at the rim and created most of his own offense off the dribble … Can finish off drives with dramatic dunks … Nearly half of his FG attempts came at the rim … Does a good job of creating contact on drives and getting to the line (5 FT makes per game) …. Very good in transition and pushes the ball with the best of them … Unselfish passer. Team player … Can thread the needle with passes that somehow find teammates for easy looks … Adept at driving and kicking … Has improved in his ball handling and overall ability to run a team … Defensive ability has a chance to be elite, considering his physical attributes … On defense, his wingspan closes angles for passes and he does a good job of jumping passing lanes … Averaged nearly a block per game, proving to be difficult to get shots off on or pass over … Near 2:1 A/TO ratio at 5:2.8 illustrates his improvement as a decision maker … Played in 19 games as a sophomore, averaging 15 ppg on 48% shooting … Solid rebounder for a guard at 4.3 per game … Late bloomer who was beginning to have a breakout season before going down with injury … Despite outside shooting woes, has touch. 73% FT shooter, while not great, has shown steady improvement over college career … Goes left and right very well showing solid ambidextrous ability … Pick and Roll ability is a work in progress but showed steady improvement in sophomore season …  Efficiency in shooting continued to improve … Outside shot could potentially improve considerably at the next level if he gets with the right shooting coach … Coachable kid with a positive attitude … Despite being close to 22, his upside trumps a lot of other (younger) prospects in this year’s draft …  Shows a lot of potential as his skill set showed nice improvement this year and he has a great deal of physical talent to tap into …

Weaknesses: An old sophomore who will turn 22 in December, diminishing the intrigue in his upside … Really struggles with confidence in his outside shooting … Jumpshot lacks great follow through as he sort of pushes the ball; lack of consistency on his form and release … 27% three point shooting (30% as a freshman) at his age is concerning … Feel for the game remains a work in progress … Still forces things too often off the dribble and doesn’t have a consistent enough shot for teams to play him to drive … Still learning the nuances of running the point guard position  … Not the most outgoing socially, so becoming more of a vocal leader at the point guard position will be important … Needs to develop more nastiness and physicality on the court … Body is very good but could use more muscle in order to play more physical and finish off drives to the rim, without being bumped off balance … While his upside is very good, he has to be considered a bit of a project … Should look to become better at shooting in spot up situations … Should look to further develop a floater which he showed at times, but will need to hone as getting clean looks at the rim at the NBA level is a much different animal … Will need to develop as an off guard, moving without the ball, posting up etc. in order to become more versatile and utilize his 2-guard size … Coming off an ACL injury adds some uncertainty about his future: Is he injury prone? Will he fully recover and how long before he can be expected to be at full strength? … Missed out on Xavier’s tourney run and experience remains a weakness as he played in the Big East, not one of the top conferences to test a PG … Underachieved slightly considering his talent level …

Notes: Detroit, Michigan native … Measurerd: 6’5.5, 181 lbs, 6’8 wingspan at the 2016 Nike Academy … Measured 6’4 (in shoes) 149 lbs, with a 6’6 wingspan at the 2013 Nike Guard Skills Academy … Declared for 2017 NBA draft and hired an agent, foregoing his final two seasons of eligibility … Missed the final two months of sophomore year following season ending ACL injury in late January … Red-shirted in 2014-15 (freshman year) after a scary head on collision, in which after 10 minutes laying (mostly motionless) on the floor he had to be taken to the hospital on a stretcher after sustaining a head and neck injury … He red-shirted following playing in limited action in six games … It would have been nice to see him return for his junior year, a la Kris Dunn, following a season in which he suffered a season ending ACL injury and was unable to display a fully developed skill set. But his age apparently dictated leaving now before losing too much intrigue in his upside …

Aran Smith 5/9/17

November 17, 2014

July16, 2013